Editing Progressive Democrats (section)

==Ideology and policies==
The Progressive Democrats were described as [[conservative liberalism|conservative liberal]]s,<ref name="HamannKelly2010"/><ref name="Slomp2011"/><ref name="RobertsHogwood2013">{{cite book|author1=Geoffrey K. Roberts|author2=Patricia Hogwood|title=The Politics Today Companion to West European Politics|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Q40tDwAAQBAJ&pg=PT188|year=2013|publisher=Manchester University Press|isbn=978-1-84779-032-3|page=188|access-date=17 April 2018|archive-date=23 September 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210923012510/https://books.google.com/books?id=Q40tDwAAQBAJ&pg=PT188|url-status=live}}</ref> [[Liberalism|liberal]],<ref name="WallaceOSullivan">{{cite book|author1=Joe Wallace|author2=Michelle O'Sullivan|chapter=Institutional Protection for Vulnerable Workers: Lessons from the Twentieth Century|editor1=Frank Reid|editor2=Anil Verma|title=Trade and Labour Protection: Can the Two be Made to Work Together?|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Tny2P1CIYHYC&pg=PA153|year=2003|publisher=Presses Université Laval|isbn=978-2-7637-8031-3|page=153|access-date=5 October 2016|archive-date=27 June 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140627175729/http://books.google.com/books?id=Tny2P1CIYHYC&pg=PA153|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="HloušekKopecek">{{cite book|author1=Vít Hloušek|author2=Lubomír Kopecek|title=Origin, Ideology and Transformation of Political Parties: East-Central and Western Europe Compared|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=W3wHffNQ7owC&pg=PA72|year=2013|publisher=Ashgate Publishing, Ltd.|isbn=978-1-4094-9977-0|page=72|access-date=5 October 2016|archive-date=27 June 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140627175958/http://books.google.com/books?id=W3wHffNQ7owC&pg=PA72|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="Annesley">{{cite book|editor=Claire Annesley|title=Political and Economic Dictionary of Western Europe|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=RefH7Ya5kU4C&pg=PT278|year=2013|publisher=Routledge|isbn=978-1-135-35547-0|page=278|access-date=5 October 2016|archive-date=27 June 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140627175921/http://books.google.com/books?id=RefH7Ya5kU4C&pg=PT278|url-status=live}}</ref> and [[classical liberal]].<ref name="O'ConnorO'Halloran2008">{{cite book|author1=Tom O'Connor|author2=Anthony O'Halloran|author3=Seamus Pattison|title=Politics in a Changing Ireland 1960–2007: A Tribute to Seamus Pattison|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ujipx7kGF70C&pg=PA26|year=2008|publisher=Institute of Public Administration|isbn=978-1-904541-69-1|page=26|access-date=5 October 2016|archive-date=27 June 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140627175158/http://books.google.com/books?id=ujipx7kGF70C&pg=PA26|url-status=live}}</ref>

The party's economic policies were based on [[neoliberalism]].<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Oo-u0p31yjQC&dq=%22Progressive+Democrats%22+ireland+neoliberal&pg=PA225|title=Re-imagining Ireland|first1=Andrew Higgins|last1=Wyndham|first2=Virginia Foundation Virginia Foundation for the|last2=Humanities|date=9 November 2006|publisher=University of Virginia Press|isbn=9780813925448|via=Google Books}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.britannica.com/topic/Progressive-Democrats|title=Progressive Democrats &#124; political party, Ireland|website=Encyclopedia Britannica}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=RgKTAgAAQBAJ&dq=%22Progressive+Democrats%22+ireland+neoliberal&pg=PA342|title=Neoliberalism: National and Regional Experiments with Global Ideas|first1=Ravi K.|last1=Roy|first2=Arthur T.|last2=Denzau|first3=Thomas D.|last3=Willett|date=13 December 2006|publisher=Routledge|isbn=9781135993672|via=Google Books}}</ref> They supported the freedom of private enterprise and the lowering of taxes. They generally favoured privatisation; for example, they supported the privatisation of the previously state-owned airline [[Aer Lingus]] and communications company [[Telecom Éireann]]. They were also part of the break-up of airports company [[Aer Rianta]] and unsuccessfully lobbied for a private, competing second terminal in [[Dublin Airport]]. As acting PD leader and [[Minister for Health (Ireland)|Minister for Health]], Mary Harney was involved in the controversial extension of private-sector influence in health care. She pursued a policy of co-location of private hospitals on public hospital grounds and is seen as sympathetic to the privatisation of [[health insurance]]. However, they opposed their coalition partner's plans to privatise airports company [[Aer Rianta]] on the grounds that a private monopoly would be worse than a public monopoly.{{citation needed|date=June 2007}}

The party was a strong supporter of low taxation. As the [[Economic and Social Research Institute]] (ESRI) stated in 2002: "On balance, budgets over the past 10 to 20 years have been more favourable to high income groups than low income groups, but particularly so during periods of high growth".<ref>'The distributive impact of budgetary policy: A medium term view' Tim Callan, Mary Keeney, John Walsh, ESRI Dublin, 2002.</ref> While the party was in government since 1997, the lower rate of [[income tax]] fell from 26% to 20% and the upper rate from 48% to 41%.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.revenue.ie/budget/budget1997/income.htm#Tax%20Rates,%20Bands%20&%20Tables |title=Budget 1997 |publisher=[[Office of the Revenue Commissioners|Revenue Commissioners]] |access-date=19 May 2007 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070517021054/http://www.revenue.ie/budget/budget1997/income.htm |archive-date=17 May 2007 |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref>{{cite web
 |url=http://www.revenue.ie/index.htm?/budget/budget2007/income_07.htm#4 
 |title=Budget 2007 
 |publisher=[[Office of the Revenue Commissioners|Revenue Commissioners]] 
 |access-date=19 May 2007 
 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070928033342/http://www.revenue.ie/index.htm?%2Fbudget%2Fbudget2007%2Fincome_07.htm 
 |archive-date=28 September 2007 
 |url-status=dead 
}}</ref>

They supported low [[corporation tax]] because they believe it encouraged business growth and enabled private enterprise to be rewarded. The party often claimed these policies were in part responsible for the "[[Celtic Tiger]]" economy. Dermot McAleese, [[emeritus]] professor of economics at [[Trinity College Dublin]], says that the emergence of the Progressive Democrats in 1985 may have had a more positive influence on the economy than some recognise. He argues the Irish low-tax, pro-business economy is based in large part on Progressive Democrat policies. "They proved that there was a constituency for this, and they gave the intellectual power to it."<ref>''The Irish Times'', 31 December 2004</ref>

The party leaders rejected the idea that they are ruled by ideology alone. Former party leader Michael McDowell has said that he sees [[liberalism]] as not being on the left-right spectrum as it is a mix of the ideals of both. Mary Harney, on becoming health minister said "I don't get my politics from any ideology, I get it from my experience and common sense". {{Citation needed|date=May 2007}} Yet Harney was a controversial minister who attempted to extend private influence in the health service and McDowell's campaign in the [[2007 Irish general election|general election]] included particularly strong attacks on Irish [[Left-wing politics|left-wing]] parties.

Despite having in its ranks the [[openly gay]] [[Colm O'Gorman]], the Progressive Democrats did not support [[same-sex marriage]]. Instead, they claimed to propose legislating for [[civil union]]; however attempts by the [[Labour Party (Ireland)|Labour Party]] to legislate for civil unions in the previous [[Dáil]] had been forestalled by PD [[Minister for Justice (Ireland)|Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform]] Michael McDowell, due to his insistence that non-sex relationships be recognised too. The Progressive Democrats again voted down the same bill in the [[29th Dáil]].{{original research inline|date=August 2012}}

Both Progressive Democrats and other commentators have suggested that the party had a greater influence on government policy since 1997 than might be expected from its size. This belief appears to have some basis&nbsp;&ndash; as of September 2004 the party controlled two of the most important cabinet positions ([[Minister for Justice (Ireland)|Justice]] and [[Minister for Health (Ireland)|Health]]), despite having less than one-tenth of the seats of its coalition partner Fianna Fáil.

In a 2000 speech to the [[American Bar Association]], the then party leader Mary Harney appeared to express a desire that Ireland become "closer to Boston than Berlin",<ref>
{{cite press release|url=http://www.entemp.ie/press/2000/210700.htm|title=Remarks by Tánaiste, Mary Harney at a Meeting of the American Bar Association in the Law Society of Ireland, Blackhall Place, Dublin on Friday 21 July 2000|publisher=[[Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment]]|date=24 September 2001|access-date=19 May 2007|quote=As Irish people our relationships with the United States and the European Union are complex. Geographically we are closer to Berlin than Boston. Spiritually we are probably a lot closer to Boston than Berlin.|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070504170557/http://www.entemp.ie/press/2000/210700.htm|archive-date=4 May 2007}}</ref> adopting US free-market models for economic development, health, education, and other services rather than [[Social model#Continental European|European Continental]] models because she believed that while continental countries (such as [[Germany]] and [[France]]) have more equality, they had bad economies and high unemployment.

However, in the midst of the ongoing Irish financial crisis, many opponents began to question the legacy of the Progressive Democrats. In a review of the [[Department of Finance (Ireland)|Department of Finance]] Robert Wright, a Canadian economist, singled out the policies of the PDs and [[Fianna Fáil]]'s 2002 election manifestos as contributing significantly to the [[Irish property bubble|2008 property market crash]].<ref name="independent" />